Participation. At times, the term was already out of our ears, but it is currently gaining in importance again. Nevertheless, for many landscape architects, the demand for participation in the planning of public open spaces is still new. And unfamiliar. In the new Garten + Landschaft, we ask what constitutes good, consistent and uncompromising participation processes in planning and […].

Participation. At times, the term was already out of our ears, but it is currently gaining in importance again. Nevertheless, for many landscape architects, the demand for participation in the planning of public open spaces is still new. And unfamiliar. In the new Garten + Landschaft, we ask what constitutes good, consistent and uncompromising participation processes in planning and, above all, what landscape architects are doing to master their complexity.

What participation means
Participation projects have never been easy. With the dawn of the post-factual age, the challenges are increasing. Prejudices compete with facts. What is needed now are planners who are open to discussion, who communicate specialist content at eye level and are interested in everyone’s opinion. A status report.

The planner as activist?
An interjection by Agnes Förster, Studio | City | Region, Munich

Will without a way?
How is participation practiced? Specialist planning often views participation from a social science perspective. However, it is the legal situation that determines the opportunities for participation. Not everything is simply possible. Lawyer Marc Zeccola reports on the limits of direct democratic instruments in Germany.

Open heart surgery
The construction of Stuttgart 21 will free up an area of 85 hectares in the heart of the city. What will happen to it? The company Mediator manages the informal Rosenstein public participation project and shows how it is possible to organize city-wide participation processes constructively and cooperatively. We talked to the moderators about the process and the challenges it poses.

Playful participation
The Ruhr region is still undergoing structural change. In Herten, the former Schlägel und Eisen coal mine is being turned into a green industrial estate. Young people have been letting off steam in an obstacle course there since summer 2016. The special feature: they developed it themselves. We spoke to Nicola Jenik and Dagmar Lehmann from the Stadtkinder planning office on site about the project and their experiences of participating with children and young people.

Space from the test tube
In Oststadt in Karlsruhe, citizens, scientists and students are working together on the future of the district. An experiment in which everyone involved learns more about the challenges of urban planning.

The indomitable
Zebralog – the name of the office based in Berlin and Bonn refers to an animal with special characteristics: wild, stubborn and yet a herd animal. And this is also how the team works: in the field of cross-media participation, it uses the reach and low-threshold nature of the Internet to initiate dialog between specialist planning and citizens using unusual methods. At the same time, it always safeguards the equal opinions of a pluralistic society.

Question: What happens to our ideas?

Practice: “People need to see: There is a living being there”

Solutions: Playground equipment and sports facilities

Reference: America goes to school

Visual axis: Quite a slant

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A trend color has emerged in the design of outdoor areas: Vandersanden has added new clinker brick models in grey to its already extensive range. As a result, architects and local authorities will benefit from an even more diverse range of pavers in future. All-round talent gray The times when gray was considered old and boring are over – today it is, […]

A trend color has emerged in the design of outdoor areas: Vandersanden has added new clinker brick models in grey to its already extensive range. This means that architects and local authorities will benefit from an even more diverse range of pavers in future.

The days when grey was considered old and boring are over – today, when it is natural and colorfast, it is absolutely on trend. The multifunctional color combines understatement with elegance and can be individually combined thanks to its numerous shades. In addition, gray represents both nature and the urban and is therefore also increasingly being used in the construction sector.
To meet this trend, Vandersanden offers a wide range of gray clinker bricks. Manufactured using the extruded and molded brick process, they not only impress with their modern shape, but also with different formats such as interlocking bricks, which enable different laying patterns. For an antique look, the clinker brick models are also available in a rumbled form. The different shades of gray of the new products are just as varied: While Gera (200 x 100 x 52 millimetres) comes in a nuanced grey, Jena (200 x 100 x 52 millimetres, also available as a format mix on request) scores with a grey-brown flamed look. Another new addition to the stock program is the grey-nuanced, muted Leipzig variety. All gray clinker brick models open up a wide range of design options and, depending on the selection and combination, always achieve a different effect. Further variants are already in development.

Indestructible markings

Pavers are also increasingly being used in road construction. In the form of directional markings, parking space markings or for the visualization of traffic islands and obstacles, they make a reliable contribution to increasing road safety. Thanks to its guaranteed color fastness, the natural product beats markings made with paint by far. The gray-white fired Carrara paving clinker provides a strong contrast to the dark road surface and is therefore ideal for use in public spaces.